NBA Schedule 2012: Analyzing the Newly Released Schedule of the L.A. Lakers

It's almost go time!

With the season two weeks away from tipping off, the NBA released the revised and shortened 66-game regular-season schedule today.

The NBA made sure the Lakers play the Celtics, Heat and Knicks twice. They also gave the Lakers an unfriendly start to the season. They'll be playing six games in eight days and they'll be playing their one and only set of back-to-back-to-back games in the first three games of the season.

Let's take a deeper look at the schedule as we see where the toughest mountains and smoothest roads are in the Lakers' schedule. 

December/January

The Good

The Lakers have two stretches of winnable games in January. 

The first stretch of games is from January 6-14 where they play the Warriors, Grizzlies, Suns, at Utah, Cavaliers and at Clippers. The second stretch comes later in the month where they play the Pacers, Clippers, at Milwaukee, at Minnesota and the Bobcats. 

Also, the Lakers are fortunate they only have one set of back-to-back-to-backs. They're even more fortunate that it comes in the first three games of the season. Playing three games in three nights will most likely eliminate any rust they had settled during the offseason and the lockout.

The Bad

The Lakers play host to the defending champions on January 16. Right after that, they fly to Florida to take on LeBron James and the Miami Heat on January 19, followed by a tilt with the Orlando Magic the next night. 

Mark These Down

The Knicks come into town in the first week of the season on December 29. This is sure to be an exciting game. Both teams are currently pursuing Chris Paul.

Obviously the aforementioned showdowns against the Mavs and Heat will be enticing. Also, if Dwight Howard gets traded to the Lakers, he'll be making a homecoming trip to Orlando on the 20th of January. 

February

The Good

There isn't much to smile about in February. The Lakers' schedule really gets tougher as we'll portray shortly. They do have a few winnable games against the Timberwolves, Hawks, Suns twice and the Raptors.

The Bad

The Lakers are an aging team and they're up against a condensed schedule this season. The last thing they want to do is their annual Grammy trip. Unfortunately, they will have to. 

The Grammy trip starts on February 3 in the Rocky Mountain region against the Nuggets. The next night they square off against the Jazz. Both seem like winnable games but they will be far from easy because generally the Nuggets and Jazz have great home crowds and they play great at home.

The Lakers then get a short break to fly east and take on the Sixers on February 6. It doesn't stop there, though, as the Lakers take on the Celtics and Knicks in a back-to-back situation. The difficult trip is capped off with a winnable game at Toronto.

That's not the only scary road trip for the Lakers. At the end of the month, the Lakers play the Mavs and Thunder on consecutive nights.

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The Lakers taking on the arch-rival Celtics and the defending champion Mavericks will be fantastic games to watch.

Finally, a home-and-home series against Pacific Division rival Phoenix should be fun to watch. Last season the two teams played a triple-overtime game. 

March

The Good

After a huge game at Dallas on March 21, the Lakers don't leave the Pacific time zone for two-and-a-half weeks. This should be a much-needed break after what seems like a never-ending stretch of tough road games. 

The competition the Lakers face during this stretch is not easy, but also not brutal. They play Portland, Memphis, at Golden State, Oklahoma City and New Orleans.

The Bad

Three road games at Detroit, Washington and Minnesota are sandwiched by home games against the Heat and Celtics. 

To make things crazier, these five games are played over eight nights. 

Not going to be easy at all.

Mark These Down

The Lakers play the Heat, Mavs and Celtics three times this month. These games should be scintillating. They also go to New Orleans in what could be a homecoming for Chris Paul. 

April

The Good

Other than games against the Thunder and Mavs, the Lakers' schedule gets considerably easier in April. The Lakers get a bunch of winnable games against the Warriors, Clippers, Nets, Nuggets, Suns and Kings.

The Bad

The Lakers don't play a single game against the Spurs until April. They play all three games against the Spurs in a span of 10 days from April 11-20. The Spurs may not be contending for a title this year because of age, but they're always a tough out for the Lakers.

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April 28. 

That's when the playoffs begin!